Terry Collins is staying as Mets manager. That infuriates a chunk of the fan base that believes his decisions were as helpful to the Royals winning the World Series as was Wade Davis.

You want to fire the manager for that, fine. But here is the problem: Whom are you hiring? Before you say anyone else would be better, remember it was not long ago that folks said anyone could manage the Nationals with all their talent.

It turned out Matt Williams did everything possible to minimize the skill of the Nationals as he lost the clubhouse in 2015 while Collins kept a roster unified in a season that often appeared heading for the junk pile well before the Fall Classic.

No one is suggesting Collins is a strategic genius. But there is no Manager Store where you get the perfect guy. By the way, pretty much every fan base thinks its manager is a dunce.

And you would not be making this hire, Sandy Alderson would, which means had Collins been dismissed, the most likely candidates would have been:

Mets bench coach Bob Geren with David WrightAP

1. Bob Geren

As the Mets’ bench coach, he was standing next to Collins and theoretically advising on all of those decisions you didn’t like. In 18 years as A’s general manager, Billy Beane has overseen just seven without a winning record. Five of them were the five years Geren managed and, by the end, there was a near-open revolt against the skipper. Geren is a good baseball man and probably would be better in his second go-around. But do you want to bet on that?

Then-Padres CEO Sandy Alderson with Bud Black in 2008AFP/Getty Images

2. Bud Black

Alderson, as chief executive officer of the Padres, essentially decided to push his manager to another team after the 2006 season — and two consecutive playoff appearances — and hire someone more to his tastes. That was Bud Black, who now ranks second on the list of most games managed without reaching the playoffs (1,362) since the postseason was expanded in 1969. Now, to be fair, the guy who was No. 2 on that list before this October was Collins. Black, who was fired in June, like Geren is an excellent baseball man and probably will be better in his next job. He nearly was named as Williams’ successor in Washington.

But don’t forget: The guy Alderson forced out in San Diego was Bruce Bochy, who went to San Francisco and won three World Series. So the idea of “The next guy is the best guy” doesn’t always hold.

3. A younger, more analytically savvy manager

This is the trend — to install folks who have never managed anywhere right into that hot seat. Mike Matheny has had success doing that, but you should know many Cardinals fans think he is a horrific strategist who particularly gets undressed in the playoffs. And this is a guy with a .579 career winning percentage and four playoff appearances in four years.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus hasn’t had the easiest transition to the dugout.Getty Images

I would have bet Brad Ausmus was as well-equipped as anyone intellectually and personality-wise to make this leap. But scouts claim Ausmus lost his team. Again, good luck figuring out who can juggle the variety of roles, including strategy, handling the clubhouse, handling more-involved-than-ever front offices, media, fan backlash, etc.

Matheny is the only manager in the past two postseasons to reach an LCS who was (a) in his first job, and (b) someone who did not serve a long apprenticeship as a major league coach and/or minor league manager beforehand, as Collins, Bochy, Joe Maddon, Ned Yost, John Gibbons and Buck Showalter did. As Malcom Gladwell pointed out in “Outliers,” there is incredible value in the 10,000 hours of experience doing anything, such as managing and learning how to get talented, headstrong youngsters to give up some of themselves for the good of the group. Maybe there is a savant or two who could bypass the 10,000 hours, but how would you guess who those are?

Here is a quote to consider:

“I think the longer I’ve been in baseball, the more it’s tilted toward managing the clubhouse and the personalities and the egos. I think from the outside, the average person watching the game just sees the Xs and Os and whether you took a reliever out or left him in, but again, in my view, a lot of those are 52-48 [percent], 55-45 decisions. You get judged by the outcome rather than the process. But kind of being behind the scenes, [you realize] how important it is to manage personalities, get guys to buy into their roles, maintain the peace in the clubhouse.

The Cubs’ Joe Maddon shows the importance of controlling big league personalities.Getty Images

“You know, it’s funny: The position is called ‘the manager,’ and in every other industry, being a manager means managing people. And in baseball, we think it’s just Xs and Os, but the reality is, this job is being a manager like it is being a manager of a business, except you also are making X and O moves out there in public.”

Those words are from Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi, as analytical a baseball executive as there is, but also a smart guy who has watched and realized that controlling the clubhouse temperature from the first day of pitchers and catchers until “See you next year” is more vital than any specific pitching change. Cubs president Theo Epstein is from the same vein. Yes, Maddon is a superb strategist. But the Cubs gave him a five-year, $25 million contract, as much as anything because of his social skills in connecting to players and creating a singular purpose.

Collins, at 66, was the majors’ oldest manager. But he connected with his team and got the Mets to stay focused and united through John Mayberry Jr. hitting cleanup and Jenrry Mejia twice being suspended and various permutations of Matt Harvey’s innings limitations and more.

Maybe he is the Accidental Tourist of managers and was just in the right place at the right time. But this is not a lab experiment. The Mets are ready to win and showed they can win at the highest levels under Collins. Do you really want to wager that would be true with the next guy because you didn’t like a strategy move or three in the playoffs?